News, Progress & Inspiration

This spring, C&M was honored to receive two new awards from the New England Chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA). The Bulfinch Awards are presented annually and recognize practitioners from across the nation who are committed to promoting excellence in the classical tradition and allied arts within New England. We are honored to be recognized for both craftsmanship and design categories, truly the celebration of the collaborative design-build model on which our firm was founded.

Our architects and builders have joined an important conversation as part of the 2018 Boston Design Week lineup. C&M Senior Architect, Mike Gray and Head of Construction, Tad Cunningham will be part of a panel discussion, Beyond Sustainability: Designing an Heirloom House with Lasting Impact. The topic is front of mind for everyone in the A/E/C industry, and C&M is proud to help lead the charge with our in-house “Energy Council” and LEED accredited residential design-build professionals. For more information or to attend the event, click here.

On this last day of winter, the team at C&M is thrilled to share a new addition to our portfolio, the Surf Side House. Just in time to start dreaming of summer days ahead, this 19th century cottage with rambling shingle style additions, has returned to use as a summer beach retreat. While the exterior retains original shingle style elements, the interior has been completely transformed by an open plan, sleek custom woodwork and walls of articulating glass doors. See full project imagery in our portfolio now.

We’re delighted to add our latest Wellesley project to the C&M portfolio. This Royal Barry Willis Cape style home underwent an extensive renovation to accommodate a young, busy family. Updates include a modern, open kitchen, new living spaces and a refreshed bar, entry and powder room.

Best of Boston Home 2018

January 01, 2018

Looking forward to a bright new year ahead with the best home designers and builders north of Boston. 2018 marks the fourth year our firm has been recognized for the highest quality design and craftsmanship for residential projects in and around the greater metro region by Boston Magazine. We are honored by this consistent recognition for the creative and enduring work we produce each year.

Holiday Cheer!

December 24, 2017

Wishing everyone warm and happy homes, and peace in the new year ahead. We are so grateful for our clients, partners, friends and families who support our craft and allow us to do what we love every day. Cheers to another wonderful year together.

C&M is all about town right now, the studio team is just back from gaining new industry insights at ABX, and our website now features a recently completed Boston condo renovation project. The rich architectural heritage of the Beacon Hill neighborhood offered an exciting opportunity for a compact urban space completed earlier this year. Visit our portfolio for project imagery and plans.

Join us on a tour of our latest portfolio addition. This small scale, but full service equestrian facility was built new to complement an existing historic home. Though only four stalls, the barn offers all the amenities of a larger facility including a heated tack room and even a finished photography studio space. The separate garage stylistically marries the new outbuildings to the original Tudor-style façade of the existing 19th century estate and offers a second floor apartment with easy access to the paddocks and barn.

We are thrilled to announce the opening of a new C&M office at 445 Washington Street in Wellesley, MA. The new space is just 12 miles from the heart of Back Bay and minutes to surrounding communities in Newton, Chestnut Hill, Cambridge, Weston, Needham and more. The team will offer the same full service model, including architecture, interiors, construction, custom woodworking and property services, from a more convenient location to our clients and partners in Boston and the Metro West. 445 Washington Street 2nd Fl | 781.694.4044

Best of Northshore Home 2017

September 29, 2017

This fall we are delighted to share the news that the firm has received two awards from Northshore Home magazine. C&M has been given top honors in Traditional Architecture for the second year in a row. C&M Woodworking was also selected for Best Millwork, highlighting their exceptional custom cabinetry and fine architectural woodworking. Congratulations to our staff, and all the top designers and tradesmen in the region -- we are honored to be counted among so many talented peers.

Bridge Work Ahead - Office Closed, Business Open

September 22, 2017

Attention all C&M friends, clients and partners. Access to our main office at 106 Western Ave in Essex is going to be closed from Saturday, September 23 - Tuesday, September 26 to accommodate the installation of our new timber frame bridge. While our building is temporarily CLOSED, C&M will remain OPEN. All job sites will be unaffected and our studio and office staff will be on line with remote access. Thank you for your patience while we improve the safety and condition of our home!

C&M Woodworking is proud to collaborate with design talent from all over the region. A warm congratulations to Interior Designer Lisa Tharp on the beautiful new feature in New England Home magazine this fall, including this sleek white kitchen and custom teak countertops from the shop at C&M. Read the full article here: New England Home September-October 2017

We are excited to have the opportunity to share more of what we have been working on with the design community, in real time. See what's going on in the woodshop, design studio and on the job sites at @carpentermacneille.

Making Waves with Coastal Design

June 22, 2017

Renovating antique homes in coastal settings is something C&M has mastered with careful attention to the intersection of climate, history and design. This summer we are proud to share two new editorials of transformative waterfront design stories. Lobster Cove has been featured by the latest issue of Northshore Home Magazine and the master bath space from Breezing Up has received national attention on the pages of House Beautiful. See our portfolio for more waterfront design inspiration from Maine to Nantucket and beyond.

Summer's (Almost) Here

May 26, 2017

The C&M team has been known to craft some truly exceptional summer spaces. From pool houses to porches, we love helping our clients get the most out of the season. This year, we're excited to share this detail from our most recent (and kid-friendly) outdoor shower - completed just in time for Memorial Day. Visit our portfolio for more projects all over the coast, and call us anytime to help get your home primed for summer fun.

The new spring issue of Northshore Home Magazine is out and we are delighted to be featured again this season. The project in print illustrates the transformation of a century-old shingle style cottage, representing the heart of C&M collaborative services; the place where in-house design and fine craftsmanship intersect to result in a superior product. Read more HERE about how our client enlisted C&M to create an heirloom quality home to be cherished for generations to come.

C&M has won “Best of Design” on Houzz®, the leading platform for home remodeling and design. Our firm was chosen by the more than 40 million monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community from among more than one million active home building, remodeling and design industry professionals. This is the second year in a row that our studio has been recognized by this large community of homeowners and designers nationwide.

Boston Magazine's Best of Boston Home 2017

January 01, 2017

Carpenter & MacNeille is honored to be named the top New Construction Home Builder North of Boston for 2017 by Boston Magazine. Our construction team brings our clients' vision to life with exceptional skill and an unparalleled knack for craftsmanship and fine detail. In the year ahead the crew will be completing work on a new private equestrian facility, a modern steel and glass, contemporary coastal residence as well as a host of renovations, large and small, to a varied portfolio of homes across the region. Congratulations to our builders for once again being recognized as best in their field.

Peace & Joy from everyone at C&M

December 23, 2016

Cheers to another year helping our truly wonderful clients find peace, joy and comfort in their homes. We are thankful to our clients, colleagues, partners, friends and families for supporting us in our craft and allowing us to do what we love each day of the year. Here’s to happy hearts, warm hearths and beautiful homes this holiday season, and in the bright new year ahead.

We are so pleased to share a new addition to the C&M portfolio pages. Working within the existing footprint of this family retreat on the north side of the island, C&M designers and builders outfit several spectacular interior spaces, including a mahogany bunk room with custom milled built-in beds for six, and added a new garden-side porch. See the full image gallery here and check back for phases II and III to follow.

The team at C&M was honored to receive two BONS Home awards from Northshore Magazine this year, recognizing our services in both architecture and custom woodworking. We are a New England company and work with clients from Maine to New York, but there's something very special about being recognized as local leaders in our trades. We love living and working in the North Shore!

As summer comes to a close we look forward to seeing some of this season’s design development take shape for next year and beyond. An initial touch of hand, like this pencil sketch of a Shelter Island renovation, sets the stylistic tone and is invaluable to the success of any project. Coupled with the now standard ability to fly through models onscreen, our in-house design team offers clients a well balanced view of their new home before a single hammer falls.

Over the past year, C&M has welcomed several new teammates and in-house capabilities that focus on sustainable design and build practices, meeting an increasing demand both from our forward thinking clients and from the governing residential building code. Construction Manager, John Cole, has been working in the progressive California build industry for the last decade and brings LEED AP BD+C certification to our in-house builders and craftsmen. John joins others on our staff, including LEED certified architect, Michael Gray, and HERS rater, Mark Pellegrini, to create environmentally sound homes that retain the level of finish, detail and aesthetic value consistent with our portfolio. Call us to learn more about how sustainable design and build brings value to both renovation and new home projects.

This June marks Twenty Years since the founding of our firm. The anniversary is a reminder of how far the company has come, but also how dedicated we have remained to our original vision of seamlessly joining creativity, collaboration and craftsmanship. We are ever so grateful to our clients for granting us the opportunities to practice our trades, to our staff, partners and vendors for helping us achieve our goals and to the tradition of the great 19th and 20th century "Master Builders" that ignited this passion for high quality, collaborative work. Three cheers and many thanks to the whole C&M family for helping us achieve this remarkable milestone.

This spring, we are honored to have been selected for a 2016 Contractor of the Year (CotY) Award in the category of Residential Interiors by the Eastern Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (EM NARI). The award was granted for the fine craftsmanship at an 1899 Georgian revival home in Manchester-by-the Sea where antiquated third-floor service quarters were transformed into two teen-suites and guest room spaces. We invite you to see more photos of the winning project in the C&M Custom Homes portfolio, Seaway.

Boston's North Shore is home to a rich and varied architectural legacy, from the highest concentration of first period homes in the country, to some of the most progressive contemporaries. In the current issue of Northshore Home Magazine, C&M offers a tour of a classic new shingle style residence that employed the use of both traditional craftsmanship and materials, as well as the highest level of modern green building technology. Read the article here and see more about Oakledgein our custom homes portfolio.

Field Notes from Nantucket

March 08, 2016

C&M is busy with Phase II at this classic seaside retreat, a recent site visit revealing the whole island is already abuzz with pre-season work. C&M Interiors will have several refreshed bedroom and bath spaces complete for the summer ahead, with the exterior ocean-side deck and pool design also underway and scheduled for a fall build. It's never too early to start thinking summer in New England.

This year C&M has been voted Best of Houzz 2016 for both Design and Service. We’re honored to be included with the top three percent of the nation’s home design professionals and these two categories represent the very heart of our firm's mission -- to create enduring architecture while having a positive impact on our clients’ lives and the places where we live and work. Many thanks to the Houzz community for the recognition of our achievements.

2016 is set to be a landmark year for Carpenter & MacNeille as we observe two decades of fine craftsmanship and outstanding design. To kick it all off, we are so pleased to be marking the occasion with a new award from the editors at Boston Home Magazine. Please join us in congratulating our team of architects, designers and builders for again being recognized as best in class and innovators in their field with a Best of Boston Home 2016award for Design and Build. We look forward to all our new projects in the year ahead and to carrying on the C&M legacy of fine architecture for many more decades to come.

Happy Holidays from everyone at Carpenter & MacNeille

December 23, 2015

Wishing everyone peace, joy and happy homes this holiday season and for the bright New Year ahead. We are grateful to our clients, vendors, friends and family for the chance to work on so many wonderful projects and for giving us the chance to do what we love every day of the year.

C&M Interior Designer Wendy Hodgson is at home with the concept of a "new old house", both in her work transforming spaces for Carpenter & MacNeille clients, and in her own historic Federal style house, dating from 1830. This month, Early Homes Magazine has featured an insider tour of the Hodgson family abode, with classic New England architectural features and a casually elegant style that are naturally well suited for an inviting fall and holiday season ahead.

ASID New England Design Excellence

October 01, 2015

Congratulations to Hattie Holland of C&M Interiors for her recent Design Excellence Award from the New England chapter of the ASID. Ms. Holland received the top honors for her work on the Old Town Road Master Bathroom. This spectacular space has been featured by editors of both Design New England and House Beautiful. You can see more project images in the Old Town Road Interiors portfolio.

Like artists, authors and entrepreneurs who, for centuries, have drawn inspiration from the dramatic landscapes, working waterfronts and remarkable architecture of coastal New England, we too are grateful for these local treasures that shape, inform and inspire our own creative process every day. To honor this artistic heritage, C&M is proudly supporting the John Sloan Gloucester Days exhibit at the Cape Ann Museum and we encourage everyone to stop in for the show, running now through November 29th. For residents and visitors alike, the recently renovated museum and this beautiful exposition are not to be missed. For the complete experience, also enjoy a wonderful lineup of walking tours, lectures and events to further celebrate the art and the place, and the harmony between.

Earlier this month, the Boston Society of Architects released their annual "Project Handbook", a guide for New England homeowners who are approaching new home design or renovation projects. Inside, C&M has shared some of our recent portfolio imagery as inspiration for readers, but we are equally excited to promote the great educational messaging from the BSA. Beautiful, successful projects are the result of the right client-architect partnership. Be sure to request a free copy of the handbook today and see more of the projects featured here: Lobster Cove; Breezing Up; Argilla Road House.

The C&M designed and built pool house featured in the latest issue of New England Home Magazine began with this beautiful colored pencil rendering of the site, showing the overall layout of the new structure in relation to the existing home and gardens. While ultimately, a slightly different configuration was built, this early visualization stage offered key insights into the relationship of the new structure to the site’s topography. Read the article about this special space in the May/June issue here: In the Swim.

If you live in New England, chances are you are familiar with the concept of a "new old house". For nearly two decades, C&M has been working with homeowners to provide elegant new design solutions and comfortable living spaces while still maintaining charming historic details and a strong sense of place. We invite you to read more about the process of one such transformation, a classic shingle style renovation, in the latest issue of New Old House magazine.

A new custom home doesn’t always need to begin with an empty lot… Join C&M President and Design Principal, Rob MacNeille, in the Northshore Magazine story behind the skillful transformation of a 1960's "builder's colonial" right here in Manchester-by-the-Sea. The project features architecture and construction by Carpenter & MacNeille, interior design by Lynn Morgan and custom cabinetry and millwork from Stephen Terhune Woodworking.

The design for the Ipswich River Pool House started with a formal garden structure and evolved into the natural timber, shingle and stone form that was ultimately built. It takes a great deal of consideration to design the ultimate outdoor living space and winter is the perfect time to settle in, dream of warmer times ahead and make those plans. See more pool house photos here and call us anytime to talk about making the most of your home in every season.

In “Four Ideas for Timeless Baths” from New Old House magazine, the C&M master bathroom featured is characterized by a unique blend of craftsman and Asian design influences. The mahogany cabinetry, classic beadboard wainscoting and a handcrafted, wooden bath tub from a specialty shop in Maine add to the richness of the space. See more classic bathroom design and custom woodworking ideas throughout the C&M portfolio. Project Note: This master bathroom is part of a new custom home, Folly Cove, designed and built by C&M architects and craftsmen.

Merry & Bright

December 24, 2014

Happy Holidays from Carpenter & MacNeille. Cheers to a wonderful group of clients, colleagues, vendors, partners and peers - we thank you for the opportunity to work together in 2014 and look forward to a bright new year ahead.

We are honored to have captured the November "Bath of the Month" from House Beautiful. Polished Carrara floors with a custom basketweave pattern, calming blue-gray hues and an elegant mix of old and new details have all come together in this classic farmhouse master bath. See more photos from the project in our portfolio - Old Town Road and Old Town Road Interiors.

C&M architects, builders and interior designers make a few appearances in the new home issue of Northshore Magazine. We’re so proud to have our hard working teams featured in both, Fresh Take about The Inn at Castle Hill in Ipswich and, Coastal Cottage about a small seaside bungalow with big views. We remain ever grateful for the wildly rich and varied architectural styles abundant on the North Shore, and the chance to showcase two very different sides of C&M design.

Endless Summer: C&M Pool House Design and Construction

September 02, 2014

Designed for the ideal outdoor living experience, this timber-frame pool house was recently completed at the Ipswich River House in the heart of North Shore horse country. The structure includes a custom kitchen made from local reclaimed wood, a stunning bluestone pool surround and a massive, salvaged-granite hearthstone from the old Chain Bridge in Newburyport. Check back soon for more project ideas and images added to our portfolio.

Happy Summer from C&M

August 21, 2014

C&M architects and builders on an outing to study the spiritually restorative effects of coastal design and construction. Many thanks to our neighbor, H.A. Burnham Boat Building & Design for the amazing sail on the Schooner Ardelle.

As a true testament to the C&M approach, where architect, builder, interior designer and cabinetmaker work seamlessly together, the master bathroom of this Massachusetts custom home has won professional distinction from the ASID as well as a place in the most recent issue of Design New England. The most important honor, of course, has been the positive reflection from our happy client.

Design Refresh in Ipswich

June 13, 2014

We’re taking a moment to enjoy the beautiful images just delivered from Michael J. Lee Photography of our work with the Trustees of Reservations earlier this year at The Inn at Castle Hill. Don’t forget to book a night at the Inn soon to experience the fresh look and feel and the ever-changing views from these historic rooms. Check back soon for the complete project portfolio on the C&M Interiors page.

This custom entrance assembly features a mahogany frame with door and sidelights crafted from reclaimed chestnut. Our clients were able to closely follow the progress of their new front door, from design by C&M through production by STW to on-site installation. C&M and STW collaborate on architectural millwork, cabinetry, custom furniture and more.

The most recent issue of the Sunday Globe’s “A Room to Love” featured the beautiful and serene porch space from our Harbor Views project in downtown Manchester. Outdoor living spaces designed and built by C&M help our clients get the most out of the precious summer season in New England.

Join C&M Interiors at The Inn At Castle Hill in Ipswich

March 26, 2014

This Spring you will enjoy renovated guest rooms, a rich new color palette and re-imagined spaces furnished with antiques from the Trustees archives and works by local artists – all designed by C&M Interiors who have given time this season in support of the Crane Estate and the Trustees of Reservations. Book your stay now at the freshly updated Inn At Castle Hill.

Watch and listen to Wendy’s take on the secrets of successful kitchen design. Plus, read more about her layered antique farmhouse style, featured in Kitchen TRENDS Magazine.

C&M looks forward to a great year ahead...

December 31, 2013

We are so happy to kick 2014 off right with our Best of Boston Home 2014 design distinction awarded by Boston Home Magazine. We are looking forward to helping with all those home renovation resolutions and building more award-winning spaces to come.

Happy Holidays from all of us at Carpenter & MacNeille.

December 23, 2013

We are grateful to our families, friends, clients, partners and peers for supporting our craft and letting us do what we love every day of the year. Thank you all for a fantastic 2013, we look forward to another great year to come.

Welcome to the new carpentermacneille.com!

November 26, 2013

With the launch of our new site, we invite you to browse our team and portfolio galleries, read about our press and awards highlights and call us anytime to talk about our signature style and collaborative process.